Cinema Betty

The ending of Saturday's Child is one of the best in Neelsdom. Abigail is reduced to being a shopgirl after being tossed out into the Dutch winter like a Victorian servant. I was a shopgirl myself at one time so have great sympathy for them. To that end, my choice this week is:

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

A Budapest notions/gift shop sales clerk Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and a shopgirl Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) mutually dislike each other and bicker constantly. They are unaware that they are each other's anonymous pen pals. On paper, they are romantically compatible, and correspond with affectionate "lonely-hearts" letters. On the same night that Alfred is fired by his employer Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan), suspected of having affair with his wife, he seeks solace with his pen-pal sweetheart in a cafe, in a memorable sequence. In the end, Alfred is rehired, and his identity is finally revealed to Klara.

This movie was made twice again. Once as a musical 'In the Good Old Summertime' (1949) and as 'You've Got Mail' (1998). (Meg Ryan's bookstore is called "The Shop Around the Corner")